Bret Michaels Sues CBS and Tony Awards over Head Injury

The June 2009 Tony Awards scenery mishap that resulted in a head injury to Bret Michaels has now erupted into a lawsuit that the musician filed Friday in Los Angeles, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.

Michaels’s attorney, Alex Weingarten, issued the following press statement, reports EW.com: “The Tony Awards dropped a piece of the stage on Bret s head, and then instead of doing the right thing, joked about it and played it off for ratings Bret never wanted to file a lawsuit, but the Tony Awards have left us with no choice. They must be held accountable for almost killing Bret, and that is what we are going to do.”

In the suit against CBS and the Tony Awards for unspecified damages, Michaels – who ever since the incident has suffered precarious health – claims that despite his asking producers for instructions on where to stand on the Radio City Music Hall stage during his performance, he was only told to “simply exit the stage from the rear.”

The musician, who performed at the Tonys with his band Poison and the cast of Rock of Ages, fell down after being hit by a piece of scenery following his performance of Poison’s hit “Nothin’ But a Good Time.” He was knocked to the ground, and fractured his nose. The singer also required three stitches in his lip.

According to the suit, “Michaels was never told that the scenery piece would be descending or given any warning of the existence of the dangers it presented. Quite the opposite, Michaels specifically asked for instructions regarding how to exit after his performance and was just told to walk off the rear of the stage – in what was ultimately the danger zone.

In the suit, Michaels takes issues with producers telling the press afterwards that his missed his mark. The suit also connect the injury to Michaels’s subarachnoid hemorrhage.